2009 NBA Finals Auction Underway

Originally Posted by Sports Collectors Daily on June 4th, 2009.

The NBA & the Meigray Group Game-Worn Jersey Authentication Program tipped off the third annual NBA Finals jersey auction during game one Thursday night.

The blue Finals jerseys worn by each member of the Eastern Conference Champion Orlando Magic and the gold Finals jerseys worn by each member of the Western Conference Champion Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 will be up for bid.

An hour into the bidding, Dwight Howard's first NBA Finals gamer had attracted two bids and stood at $1020 while the Kobe Bryant shirt had its minimum bid of $1000 placed.

The auction runs through Thursday, June 18, ending at 9 p.m. ET at Auctions.NBA.Com.

NBA & MGG will also auction the set of jerseys the teams will wear in Game 3 at Orlando next Tuesday. That auction opens June 9 at 9:07 pm ET and runs through Thur/sday, June 25 at 9 pm ET.

Last year's jerseys from game one of the Finals between the Lakers and Boston Celtics generated $112,516 in bids. Kevin Garnett's Celtics jersey topped the auction with a winning bid of $31,070 with Kobe Bryant's gamer going for $19,040.

Every game-worn jersey is authenticated with a unique security system which includes a special coded tag, and security number placed on the jersey before players wear them on court during The Finals. After the games are played, the jerseys are securely stored until they are delivered to the winners.

Every item offered by NBA is authenticated and registered into the NBA Authentication Program Database.